Everyone walked through a hallway lit with light gems for what felt like a mile before they arrived at a large metal door. The door required more than a bit of strength from Axel to turn a rusted locking handle until Sky waved her manipulator, and the handle moved with ease. They opened the door to an empty building somewhere in the city. After exiting into a Vanguard substation, the group closed the exit and left through a side door of the building.
The sky was overcast as Axel stepped outside, and a deep fog bank had rolled in from overnight rain. The group moved to where Rex told them the nearest launch was to hire a platform. When Axel asked to be taken to the station, the driver nodded and quickly sent the platform off. The ride through the fog-covered city felt like they were in a different world of swirling whites with interspersing views of buildings in the growing dawn's light on the horizon.
As the platform arrived at the Station’s launch, the morning suns were burning away the fog to reveal a behemoth of metal sitting nestled in a large building. This metal thing sat on tracks of metal and was likely about a mile in length. Axel left the platform and had Aria lead the way to the meeting location that Jareth had given them through a personal courier sent a few days after the group’s trial.
The meeting point was a warehouse that sat at well over five floors in height alone. Aria knocked in a prearranged pattern, and the door was opened by a human man in rough clothing, stained with a black substance, who allowed Axel’s group into the building. Inside the building were crates stacked on crates, likely full of goods going to market or being set to ship elsewhere.
“Ahh, my friends,” Jareth’s voice echoed from where he was looking over a list and crates that had numbered markings. “You are early, but that is good.”
“Thanks for the help, Jareth,” Axel greeted him with a handshake.
“Oh, this is not charity but business, as I plan to make a killing from our venture,” Jareth smiled warmly at Axel, then greeted the rest of the group. “I see Aria, but I have not been introduced to the other two formally.”
“This is Sky and Lyra,” Aria introduced. “Also, we need to finish the formal paperwork, Jareth. Don’t think Aria has forgotten about that.”
“Never, my dear,” Jareth agreed. “Well, let’s go into the warehouse’s office, and I can introduce you to our other travel companions while getting that paperwork out of the way.”
Jareth then led the way through what seemed to be a maze of crates to an office hidden under scaffolding and out of sight due to the way the crates were set. As Jareth opened the door, Axel saw a pair of familiar faces, twin Krellian sisters named Larimar and Pearl, who were leaning against the desk in the room. Each wore more standard combat gear and not what they were wearing as Tidewalkers.
Pearl wore a light set of combat armor meant for mobility, with a metal breastplate and strategically placed plates that protected many of her vital spots without slowing movement. The whole set was dyed in mountain colors. At her side were a pair of axes hanging in loops, each with a nasty-looking hook under the blade.
Larimar wore a simple set of leather armor that seemed to be tailored to her body. She had a long trident that was a signature weapon of many Tidewalkers. The weapon almost glowed in the lights with a silver sheen, showing off several intricate symbols etched into the head and shaft. Having just been given gear from Sky, it was easy for Axel to guess that the trident was enhanced.
As everyone in Axel’s group walked in, Axel felt Aria move behind him with a small “eep” to avoid the line of sight with the twins. Axel saw a wide smile appear on the twins' faces when they heard that noise and saw Aria hiding behind Axel.
Pearl put down a mug of tea and looked Axel up and down. “I remember you both.”
“Aren’t they the ones who wanted training during the last beast tide, sister?” Larimar looked at her sister and asked.
“They are!” Pearl said enthusiastically. “It is always so fun to get to train with fresh newbies.”
“Sister, be nice,” Larimar gently touched her sister’s shoulder, causing Aria to relax based on her grip on Axel’s arm. “We should only soak them to the bones a couple of times.”
Aria hid quickly and tightened her grip, causing Sky and Lyra to move to her sides out of protectiveness. Neither seemed to know what was going on but were reacting based on Aria’s actions.
“Enough, you two,” Jareth said, with the jovial air to his tone gone, taking a much more serious note to his voice, causing the twins to stiffen. “I know you enjoy messing with people, but we will have work to do.”
“It’s okay, Sky and Lyra,” Axel calmed his team. “They helped train Aria and have water-based powers. Aria does not enjoy getting soaked, and these two loved doing just that during some paid training.”
“It was so much more fun than guarding the riverside wall in that town,” Pearl added. “It is so rare someone pays for a time like that for training.”
“Anyway,” Jareth returned to his more jovial tone and sat at the desk with a huff. “So it is rather inconvenient right now with your bounty, Axel, but I think I have figured out a way to get you out and avoid your hunters.”
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“Well, I am all ears,” Axel said, ready to hear what Jareth had planned, as even though Axel put a lot of thought into it, he could not come up with a plan that had a good shot to get past the gate guards.
“Aria thinks this is likely to be about why we are near the steel carriage, right?” Aria added quickly to Jareth.
“Steel carriage?” Axel turned to ask but was then preempted by Jareth answering.
“It is called a train based on the ancient journal that was found allowing it to be created.” Jareth continued to explain while pulling out papers and filling out a few areas in what looked to be something already mostly filled out. “Currently, it only is connected to the City State of Stormwatch, but if it shows its uses, more cities will be connected.”
“Does this not draw beasts?” Lyra asked with a hint of concern in her voice.
“This is why this venture is still only connected to this city and Stormwatch, as you need at least a team of Expert tier to ride along for safety, along with many Novices and Adepts in support,” Jareth explained and then pushed the papers over to Aria to look over. “The tracks also need specialists to come with to repair any damage, which costs a lot in both money and manpower, but it turns a month by caravan, which is still very dangerous, into a four-day trip that can haul a lot of cargo at once.”
“I think this is the best way to move you away from this city where the danger is most present and put some distance between you and your trouble,” Jareth kept explaining and took the contract back from Aria, frowning at her alterations. “While expensive, Stormwatch has a lot of beasts that are worth a lot and potent for you to keep going in your cycle while not wasting my nieces' time hunting.”
“We hate wasting time,” Larimar looked at her uncle and said. “We are on our annual leave from the Tidewalkers to allow us to hunt for our cycle, and our uncle here called in a favor to help him with his new investment.”
Pearl picked up her tea again and slowly took a sip while watching Axel’s group take this in. Axel thought through the plan and saw a glaring flaw.
“Won’t I still be seen leaving on the train?” Axel asked Jareth, which interrupted his argument on contract terms.
“I was planning to have you hide as cargo at first, but Pearl said this would not work as cargo is now being checked heavily by the guards and suggested the train. So you will have a ticket instead of being smuggled out. We decided that speed would be better,” Jareth explained, then went back to argue with Aria on some clause and subsection that they were both contesting. “This plan also gets us out of this city and to a new one that would open up more options.”
“That seems fine to me,” Axel agreed. “I was already thinking about how to get us out of the area anyway.”
“I am fine with this plan,” Lyra said. “I really don’t have anything holding me here anyway.”
‘I really want to go to Stormwatch!’ Sky’s happy voice chimed in, making Jareth, Pearl, and Larimar flinch out of some reflex to hearing her talk to them for the first time. ‘That is the city at the leading edge of enhancing right now.’
“Well, it did cost a few gold, but since this was bought today, it should slow your hunters down,” Jareth continued and looked over the contract again. “I will also have a few people hired that look like your group leaving the city gates today and run for the normal hunting areas for your assumed Cycle to buy time.”
“Jareth, I don’t think we can thank you enough for this help,” Axel started but was waved off.
“This much is simple to achieve with a little money and experience.” Jareth looked up from the contract into Axel’s eyes. “I have a keen instinct for things, and you will be someone who can lead me closer to my goals, so it is the least I can do to help get this venture off the ground.”
Everyone stopped talking except Aria and Jareth, who were fighting it out in an intense negotiation before concluding with a firm handshake and Aria signing a stack of papers. Axel and the others had to sign the contract after reading it, including the twins, before it was all set. Aria happily told Axel that he did not get latrine duty this time.
Jareth then led everyone out of the office and back through the maze to where his wagon was sitting near the warehouse’s big door. The large familiar pair of Pollox stood on their four feet, happily eating out of a feeding trough and not yet hitched up to the wagon. Several people were loading the wagon with large boxes and tying everything down securely. When the wagon was ready, everyone got in, and it headed out.
The fog was almost all burned away as the wagon made it to the station and moved to a large side door. Jareth showed his ticket, and everyone else pulled out a ticket that he handed to them before loading into the wagon. The guard looked over each person in the group but did not find anything amiss and then waved them through the gate in a bored way. Jareth just nodded and led the wagon into what he called a yard and down the line of large steel carriages until he found one with a ramp waiting on a wagon.
It took a few stern commands to get the Pollox to enter, but after that, it was easy to get them in a pen that was in the carriage and lock his wagon down. After this, some station personnel moved the ramp away to another carriage and helped another group enter with practiced ease. Jareth led everyone to the station proper and had them enter a carriage that held several small rooms, including four with sets of beds, a room for storage, and one that held secure seating plus tables.
Everyone secured their bags and larger weapons in the storage area, but there were signs stating that all passengers needed to be prepared to defend against beasts if the train encountered them in large numbers. Axel and Aria took one room, Lyra and Sky in their own, Pearl and Larimar took a room, and the last room was Jareth's. After everyone was settled, all there was to do was wait for the train to start.
It was well after lunchtime when the train started to move with a stuttering start. Axel could hear the slight sound of grinding metal as the carriage began to pick up speed. Lunch was served in another carriage that was linked through tunnels that led through all the other carriages to a large car full of tables. Everyone ate while watching the city disappear into the distance and a hilly jungle slowly began to increase in sight.
The train traveled through land held by what were known to be cultivators. This was a group of people who grew food for the city and needed to have both the skills for fast-growing food and to defend against the beasts during the smaller beast tides. To be a cultivator was a high badge of status in their world, as everyone would die without their food, and they raised fast-growing domesticated beasts.
The cultivated land was all on the side of the city away from the jungle to blunt any wave that hit and was miles wide. Each cultivator homestead usually held an Expert and dozens of Adepts, along with people who focused on just food-making abilities. As the train left the cultivating land, Axel returned to his carriage as he really did not have the energy to be in a crowded social setting right then. Axel then just relaxed in the seats, enjoying the view of the terrain flying by at speed.